Pizza and Comfort
by Slayergirl
Summary: Fluff. Harry offers Nikki comfort.


**Pizza and Comfort**

It shouldn't have done, but it came as quite a shock to Harry, flicking through the photo album that Nikki had left on the table while she ordered the pizza.

"_No, _no mushrooms. No pineapple. No sweetcorn. But extra cheese. Oh, and garlic bread. No, I'll pay on delivery, thanks…" She hung up in exasperation. "Is it that difficult an order?" she complained to fresh air.

Harry chuckled. "Fiendish, Niks." He flicked through a couple more pages, backwards in time. "It's funny, you know," he commented, waving the album at her.

"What is?"

"The photos. These are a few years ago, yeah? You look… dunno, younger."

She peered over his shoulder. "Oh, God, those are _years_ old!" she laughed. "Those are some of my uni friends. We used to go on holiday together."

"Why don't you any more?"

_Because I keep hanging around hoping you'll ask me,_ she thought, but shrugged. "Em's married with kids. Lottie's engaged. Gem's mum's ill, and can't be left. So… just doesn't happen any more."

"That's… sad," he frowned. "Looks like you don't meet up with them much."

"I go round and help Gem out sometimes," she said defensively. "I meet up with Lottie for coffee quite often. Why do you say we don't meet up much?"

He frowned. "All the photos recently have been of the three of us – you, me, Leo. Sometimes Janet, too. Don't you ever socialise with anyone else?"

"I do, I just don't take photos of everything," she replied, ruffled. "Anyway, I like socialising with you guys. You're my friends, you understand what I do and why I do it, you can relate to me. It's like…" she turned to glance out of the window. "Like being part of a family," she said quietly.

Harry felt something inside him clench painfully, and stood up. Walking over carefully, as if afraid of startling her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, Niks. Didn't think of it that way," he said softly.

She shrugged, trying not to show she was upset. "Doesn't matter."

"It matters."

"Harry…"

He turned her to face him, bending down to look into her eyes. "Nikki. It matters," he told her firmly. As she bit her lip to stop the tears falling, he sighed, and pulled her into his arms so that her head rested on his chest. "Why didn't you say something before?" he asked.

"Like what?" she choked out. "My own family's so rubbish, I want to make you guys into a surrogate one? How pathetic does that sound?"

His arms tightened round her. "As pathetic as it does for me to say that I look up to Leo as a father. It's not pathetic, Nikki. It's sad that your family aren't there for you, but that's not your fault." He kissed the top of her head. "And as you've said, we _are_ there for you, on the spot, spending so much time in each others' pockets… it's natural to turn to us for support. Come on, I do it, Leo does it… to a certain extent, even Janet does it – remember when Leo was in hospital? We're a team… and that's only one step away from family."

She gave a half-sob, half-laugh, hugging him tightly. "Thanks."

He stroked her back gently as she nestled against him. "Feeling better?"

"Mm."

She made no move to break away from him, so he stayed holding her, alternately stroking her hair and her back in what he hoped was a soothing way. He hated the fact that he'd inadvertently said something that had upset her – mostly because he figured he should have seen it coming. At least she wasn't crying any more. Nikki crying was somehow the most unsettling thing in the world.

He kissed the top of her head again, then her temple; then, when she didn't object, her cheek. Still no objection – but was that a faint blush? He cupped the side of her face, and pressed gentle lips to hers, lingering a little longer than was just friendly. No objection, so he did it again, lips gently massaging hers, and eventually, hers started massaging back. Gently, softly, unhurried, they kissed like that for some time, until Harry drew back a little, resting his forehead against hers. "Not too incestuous?"

She blushed a little, but smiled. "No. Not too incestuous."

He smiled in response. "I'm delighted to hear it."

It was a while before the pizza delivery guy could get them to register that he'd been ringing the doorbell for ten whole minutes.


End file.
